Mary Jean Leader

When Mary was born, the doctors said she would only live a few days. Most babies born with severe spina bifida in 1958 did not survive. Mary surprised them. The experts said she would never walk. Mary surprised them. Mary spent the next 64 years surprising anyone who doubted her or told her she couldn’t do something. 

The eldest of five children of Alfred and Dorothy (Teiken) Bentler, Mary’s childhood was divided between the family home on Lake Alexander, in rural Cushing, and long stays at what was then called Gillette State Hospital for Crippled children in Saint Paul. (We have gotten a little better at naming things since then.) Her amazing ability to talk to strangers and make friends with almost anyone developed during those long separations from family. Everyone who met Mary remembered her. 

Mary’s parents fought for her right to go to school at a time when children with disabilities were seldom mainstreamed into public schools. Mary again surprised the experts, graduating from Pillager Public Schools in 1977. She later went on to earn a BA degree in Sociology from Bemidji State University. 

Mary loved the outdoors, especially fishing and in the winter she enjoyed snowmobiling with her siblings, despite an unfortunate (or hilarious) tendency to roll off the snowmobile on steep hills. She loved sports and was a passionate, lifelong fan of the Minnesota Twins. 

Determined to live independently, Mary lived and worked in Brainerd for many years after high school. It was there she met the love of her life, Gary Leader, whom she married in 1989. They later made their home in Bemidji, where Mary attended college and later worked at the Leech Lake Band’s Palace Casino and Hotel. They spent their free time fishing, hunting, traveling, raising dogs, and engaging in woodworking and baking. Gary died in 2009. 

Mary is survived by two sisters, Joanne (Mark) Kolbeck of Baxter and Jackie Bentler of Ironton; brothers Timothy Bentler- Jungr of Arlington, Virginia, and Kenny (Heather) Bentler of Brainerd; three nephews, two nieces, two great-nieces, and one great-nephew; an absolutely ridiculous number of cousins; and the staff and residents of Bethany Good Samaritan Home in Brainerd, who have been her community for many years. She is preceded in death by her parents, Al and Dorothy Bentler; her husband Gary; and sister-in-law Carolyn.

Services will be held on Saturday, July 15, 2023, at 11:00am at the Brenny Family Funeral Chapel in Randall. A gathering of family and friends will begin at 9:30am. Luncheon following services at the Randall VFW.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Brenny Family Funeral Chapel, Randall.